A sense of ongoing frustration was the notable tone of Westmeath County Council Cathaoirleach, Cllr Aengus O’Rourke, this week, as he spoke with the Athlone Advertiser to express his concern at the “slow progress” of flood defence works which were due for completion in 2020.
“Works commenced on the flood defences in Athlone in late 2017. These works consist of eight cells with each one relating to a specific risk area in Athlone - from Golden Island on the east side, to The Park and Deerpark Road on the westside of our town. Such defences are vital to protecting 250 homes in the Athlone area and a number of businesses too.
“The Office of Public Works (OPW ) was the contractor appointed to conduct all the relevant flood defences civil works and with an estimation of three years to deliver this project, it should have been completed in late 2020. Even allowing for the detrimental impact of Covid-19, all eight cells should be very much nearing completion by now.
“Unfortunately, a number of the cells are still a long way off completion and if we are to assess recent progress, project realisation could be a considerable time away yet,” Cllr O’Rourke noted.
The Cathaoirleach detailed key flood defence locations which require urgent progress if the project is to realise completion in the near future.
“I get very frustrated when I witness the lack of progress at The Strand, Marine View, Sr Bernard Quay, Golden Island, Deer Park Road and the Show Grounds.
“Marine View is a building site for the past three years with very little progress evident for long periods of time. This is a small riverside residential area and those living here have been looking out at barriers, bollards and construction debris now for far too long, it’s just not good enough.
“The pace of work is simply not fast enough or consistent enough. For some reason, some days the workers are there and most days they are not and I want to know the reasoning behind this.
“I have numerous constituents from the affected areas complaining about the slow pace of work and I am in full agreement with their thoughts. In terms of people’s patience, the OPW are running out of road.
“I have asked the Council Executive to engage urgently with the OPW and to provide a comprehensive update along with a completion timeline at the next local authority meeting in November.
“My concerns are also heightened because we are about the commence a major refurbishment of Mardyke Street/Sean Costello Street/Pump Lane in the coming months, while Irish Water is due to commence the €115 million upgrade of our main drainage network in the town,” Cllr O’Rourke commented.
The Cathaoirleach stated that there was a need to have the flood defence works concluded prior to commencing further major developments within the town.
“We really need the OPW to complete our flood defence works before we start into further large construction projects. We cannot possibly have three large scale town centre construction projects happening all at the same time. It is difficult enough to manage the disruption in our town caused by one major project so I simply cannot imagine the problems which three occurring in parallel would cause. Certainly the businesses will not allow it and the people will not allow it.
“I hope the OPW update report which I have now requested at our next council meeting will bring clarity and some reassurance in terms of completion dates,” Cllr O’Rourke concluded.
